Police guard Choma Milling, as mealie-meal shortage persists

Police guard Choma Milling, as mealie-meal shortage persists
Written by Henry Chibulu in Mazabuka
Sunday, February 15, 2009 7:49:19 AM

ARMED police were yesterday deployed at Choma Milling Company depot in Mazabuka where residents have been struggling to buy mealie-meal following the shortage of the commodity in most leading supermarkets.

A survey conducted yesterday morning revealed that some residents woke up as early as 03:30 hours to queue up for the commodity which had become scarce in the Central Business District.

Staff at Choma Milling depot explained that the company sought the intervention of the police in order to maintain law and order.

And a resident of Chivuna area in chief Hanjalika, Moses Mweemba, said he had spent two days in Mazabuka town to buy mealie-meal because of the long queues.

He urged the government to find a solution to the problem before the situation worsened.

Mweemba said also urged authorities to screen those buying mealie meal since some people were buying in bulk in order to resale at exorbitant prices.

And district commissioner Tyson Hamaamba said the shortage of mealie-meal had been compounded by the temporal suspension of production at the local Kapinga Milling Company which had completely run out of maize.

He warned that unless the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) immediately offloaded maize to the millers, the district would be plunged into acute food shortages in both rural and urban areas.